Leaders’ actions actions are influenced by unspoken self-talk.
Sometimes, these thoughts are self-critical and provoke anxiety.

Cognitive Behavior Therapy (CBT), developed by University of Pennsylvania’s Aaron Beck, provides a systematic way to notice and restructure “irrational self-talk.“
Similar approaches were developed by Albert Ellis in Rational-Emotive Therapy (RET), and David Burns in his synthesis of CBT and RET.

Arizona State University’s Charles Manz and Chris Neck  translated these self-management processes to managerial development.
They outlined a Thought Self-Leadership Procedure as a five-step circular process:

1. Observe and record thoughts,
2. Analyze thoughts for potential errors in reasoning (jumping to conclusions, exaggeration, etc)
3. Develop alternate positive, realistic thoughts and notice how these sound”,
4. Substitute alternate more positive, realistic thoughts, and monitor how they seem,
5. Notice if more negative thoughts appear, and substitute the more productive thoughts.

Additional strategies for Productive Thought Patterns at work were summarised by writer Parismita Goswami, drawing on evidence-based Cognitive Behavioural approaches.

Other recommendations to manage thoughts about stressful situations were distilled by John Crimmins of Behaviour Institute in coaching people at work.

-*What practices do you use to develop and apply productive thought patterns?

©Kathryn Welds